I am a wife, a mother, an electrical engineer, a quilt pattern designer, an independent fabric designer, and a quilter for hire. Life's pretty insane most of the time, and sewing is my sanity!
I will be posting my sewing adventures here, including stuff I design, patterns I test, awesome tools I might find, and whatever else might strike me at the time.
Check out my quilt patterns, fabric designs, and finished items for sale in my stores, in the tabs right below this text.

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Saturday, June 11, 2011

This is a swap for 6.5" (unfinished) pinwheel blocks - 5 blocks make a set. If the blocks are a little big, that's fine, but blocks that are not at least 6.5" will be returned unswapped.I'm not going to insist on quilt shop quality fabric because I know how expensive it is, but please avoid using very poor quality fabric. Jo-ann's fabric is fine. Fabrics should be pre-washed. You can trade up to 4 sets per swap. Attach an address label, or tape a small label to the back of each block with your name on it (so I can do my best not to give your own blocks back to you!)

The pinwheel block can be found here:http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltblocklotto/ss/pinwheel_quilt_2.htm

Please keep your dark and light fabrics where they're shown in the diagram. One block with the colors reversed sticks right out!

To make your half square triangles easier, you can use this template:http://www.blockcentral.com/hst/hst-3inch.pdf

This template makes enough half square triangles for two blocks, so three copies will do per set. Make sure when you print, the scaling is set to "none" so it doesn't shrink to fit the page, or your blocks will be too small! You could also use the 4 inch version and trim them to fit if that makes you more comfortable, but you'll need one copy per block for that template. (http://www.blockcentral.com/hst/hst-4inch.pdf)

To keep the colors within the color families, I'm suggesting using a color wheel. They are available for purchase in the quilting notions section of Jo-ann's, but I've been known to forget mine when I go there. So I grab one to use while picking fabric, and then put it back before I leave. There are 12 color families on this color wheel and it shows different shades of each color. Each swap will cover one color family. Just choose two fabrics per set. You'll need about a quarter yard of each fabric to make your sets. Make 6 blocks, keep one block for yourself and mail the other 5 in for swapping.

If you're interested in swapping, contact me through my facebook page (Shannon's Quilty Corner) or by email (quiltyshannon@yahoo.com) before the mail date, and let me know how many sets you will be swapping for that month. Mail date is the 15th of each month. I will swap out on the 25th or sooner, if I have received blocks from all that have signed up. Make sure to include an envelope with return postage attached for me to swap out & mail back to you.

When you sign up, I will send you the address to send your sets to. I don't want to post it all over the internet! If you have any questions, please let me know.

On a side note, if you're fast at sewing, or busier some months than others, or you just want to save on shipping costs, feel free to do blocks ahead of time and send them in together. I will hold onto them until they've all been swapped, and then send them back all at once. Just be sure there's enough postage for the blocks you're sending on the return envelope.